College Radio Day 2024

This year, College Radio Day took place on October 4th, the first Friday in October. To celebrate, 88.7 Brave New Radio broadcasted for 24 hours straight, with a variety of shows and hosts. The day began with high energy music at midnight with EDM hosted by DJ Beej and followed by Oasis Appreciation with Marc Hamon at 1 AM. In the early morning hours, sports fans were treated to WP Sports Report with Andy Gavin at 3 AM and Hot Corner with Andy Gavin at 4 AM. At 5am listeners were treated to Gavin Mckeon and Friends, followed by more sports reporting with 4 Point Play with Bijan Pulley at 7 AM and One Yard Line with Michael Milligan at 8am. 

K-Pop took over at 11 AM with K-Pop with Baylee Matthews. In her show, Baylee played hits by renowned K-pop groups while sharing interesting details about the groups and the Korean music industry. As she states, “If you know nothing about K-pop, now is the time to be learning.” At 9 AM Jonathan Kick took over with College Rock, not only playing awesome songs by rock bands on the rise, but giving details about each artist. William Paterson alumni Granger Mitchell stated that he listened to this segment and highly enjoyed it. “It was awesome listening to the show. I got to hear a lot of new music that I’d never heard before and discovered some great new bands” he said. At 1 PM Alexa and Vitoria took over with Pop Cheers. Host Alexa Topolski commented on her experience hosting the show, stating, “Although this was the second College Radio Day that Vitoria and I have attended, this was our first time having a live 2-hour show for the event! Vitoria and I brought our weekly Monday show ‘Pop Cheers’ to College Radio Day as we played 1 hour of Disney throwbacks and 1 hour of Nickelodeon throwbacks. It was truly a fun and engaging experience that I can’t wait to celebrate and be part of again”.

The next two segments were for the ladies as at 3 PM Bella and Hava took over with Tumblr Girls, followed by For the Girls with Aria Capria at 5 PM. 7 PM was for the movie lovers with Music in the Movies with Karp and Cugs. Anybody having a rough day or stuck in their feels could vibe to relatable music during Sad Music with Ian Cruz at 8 PM. The energy was revved back up again by Horns Up with Andy Gavin, especially for those who wanted to vibe with some country hits. For the final hour, the hosts at the station rallied together to give one final, heartfelt goodbye. They expressed their admiration for College Radio Day and how being a part of 88.7 Brave New Radio has been enriching and impactful. 

This year’s College Radio Day was a raging success, with 24 hours worth of great music, engaging conversations, and education. College Radio Day highlights the significance and impact that college radio has on the lives and education of students. Not only do students gain relevant work experience in their prospective fields and hone valuable skills, but find a sense of community and create life-long bonds with friends. It is important to preserve the creative freedom and modes of expression that college radio allows to students. 
College Radio Day is an annual event that celebrates college radio stations around the world and acknowledges the importance of a unique medium of student expression. The first college radio day took place in October of 2011, when 365 different college radio stations in the U.S, Canada, and Jamaica came together. The idea started at William Paterson University with 88.7 Brave New Radio general manager Rob Quicke. Following the event, Rob received emails from other international college radio stations who hoped to take part, namely Tizianna Cruz from Italy and Guillermo Gaviria from Latin America, opening the event to a global scale. The goal of college radio day is to bring awareness to the many college radio stations that exist around the world to drive up listenership and support.  College radio is a unique form of media that allows students to express creativity and freedom they would not otherwise have at a typical commercial radio station. College radio is a beacon for local, independent music, often credited with pushing the careers of many successful artists who got their start on these airwaves. College radio day is a unique opportunity for college radio stations all over the world to come together and share support for their passion.